Xuzhou was called Pengcheng in ancient times.

It connects Yanzhou to the north, Linyi to the east, Sizhou to the west, Song to the west, Bo to the south, Haozhou to the south, and belongs to Henan Road.

Xuzhou has been a must-fight for military strategists since ancient times. Later generations have been known as the "bridge of five provinces" and the "Athenes of the East". It is also the hometown of Emperor Gaozu of Han and Xiang Yu of Chu. It is a mighty Chinese. There were nine emperors from Xuzhou. Therefore, Xuzhou has a saying that "the emperor of the Nine Dynasties is Xuzhou."

In order to relive the warmth of his hometown, Zhu Li passed through Sizhou without stopping and headed straight to Xuzhou. Whether in his past or present life, this place is his hometown, and his hometown is deeply affectionate and cannot be given up.

Yongfengli, Fengxian County, Zhu Li’s ancestral land was originally a small town, but now it is a broken wall and nine out of ten rooms are empty.

Occasionally, there were villagers dressed in rags and covered in vegetables, who secretly poked their heads out, looked at Zhu Li and others, and then quickly shrank back.

Today's people are not only afraid of the government, but also the military. Zhu Li and his party are mostly tall and big horses, holding guns and swords, and the villagers are not afraid. This cowardly scene makes people feel sad.

Since the sixth year of Qianfu, Zhu Li and her parents fled from their hometown. It has been four years since then. He has grown from a thirteen-year-old boy to a 16-year-old general. It is about to be the New Year, but after the New Year, he is about to be seventeen.

But the hometown seems to be worse than the scenes in memory. In the integrated memory, the hometown at that time was not as poor and destitute as it is now.

The world changes, things change, and people change, and looking at them makes people feel cold.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the slant. The worn bedding was dirty and could not tell the color. He was wrapped around his body by the whole person. He was staggering, like a headless fly, rushing towards everyone.

The visitor was unstable, and three or two steps were just a fall. The short distance actually caused him to fall four or five times.

Zhu Li is very familiar with this situation. I remember that in the refugee team, there are often people who will experience this situation. This is hungry. Under the rush of hunger and cold, it makes people dizzy, weak limbs, and unable to walk even steadily.

As soon as he saw the person coming, Zhu Li jumped off the horse and quickly met the man. He reminded him anxiously: "Be careful."

Before the voice fell, he met the man, not minding the dirty smell on the other person's body, hugged his shoulders and steadily supported the person coming.

This is a young boy. His face is covered with thick dirt, his lips are dry, his eyes are dull, and he is stuttering, as if he wants to speak, but in the end he doesn't say anything.

"After staying, let's find a place, boil some hot water, and soak the steamed buns." Zhu Li knew what to do with this situation. She was so hungry that she could not give him steamed buns directly. If you are not careful, the other party may choke to death. This is the experience left behind.

Zhu Li's advice made everyone dare not neglect and quickly chose a larger courtyard, which had long disappeared, and a group of people settled in it.

The hunting for firewood, the building of the pot, the boiling water, was in a hurry, and the women in the carriage also walked off the carriage. There were familiar maids and servants, who quickly came forward to work with each other, and the others began to clean and clean the room.

Zhu Li hugged the little Lang who was about to starve to death. With the help of Yang Zaixing, she sorted out an empty bed and placed it flat on the bed. She quickly took out a steamed bun and was careful.

The ground was torn into small pieces, and fed them one by one to Xiaolang's mouth.

The other party was so hungry that he was half-starved that Zhu Li was afraid that the person would die without waiting for the hot water to boil, so he would be in vain. Let him eat some food first, just be careful.

A group of people, after working for most of the day, finally snatched the hungry little boy from the gate of hell. The little guy was only twelve or three years old. He even ate seventeen steamed buns with soup and water in one breath. Even Yang Zaixing, who has always been known for his appetite, was shocked by the other party's ability to eat. Is this a starving ghost reincarnation?

After dinner, Xiaolang became energetic and looked at Zhu Li and others with indescribable gratitude. He had never thought that these noble nobles would help him. He was just very hungry and wanted to find something to eat.

"Why are you so hungry? Isn't there anyone in the town to have food?" Zhu Li frowned slightly. After all, she was a fellow villager in the village. Did she just watch a fellow villager starving to death and no one paid attention to it?

Xiao Lang looked at the few people timidly and finally spoke: "No, the government has taken away all the surplus grains. Everyone can only lie in the house next to each other. When they are hungry, they will knead a few snow balls to deal with it. This will last longer."

"All the food is taken away, will the government ignore you? " Yan Keqiu asked in confusion.

Xiaolang was a little cowardly, turned his head and peeked at him, and whispered: "There is no way to deal with it. I heard that the war between the army has started again, and the military rations cannot be owed; and, it is that what we handed in is only what we should pay."

"What should I pay for, what does it mean?" Zhu Li was puzzled.

"Even our income is not enough to pay taxes." The boy was cowardly and his voice was even lower.

All income is not enough to pay taxes. What kind of tax is so heavy? Is this really something a local parent official can do? If this is true, it has to be doubted whether Shi Pu, the governor of the army, wants the people to commit suicide.

Of course, Zhu Li was not the only one who was confused, and the others were also very confused. Yan Keqiu frowned and said, "The way to be a king must first save the people. If the people are harmed to save their bodies, they will cut their thighs to eat their stomachs, and they will die if they fill their stomachs."

"At the beginning of the founding of the country, the Tang Dynasty used the "Rent and Ordinary Regulation Law" as the tax collection standard; after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, due to the large loss of household registration and serious land annexation, Dezong adopted Yang Yan's suggestion and tax the land from the land, commonly known as the "Two Tax Law". As far as Yan knew, neither the "Rent and Ordinary Regulation Law" had ever happened. It was not enough to spend all the people's income and pay taxes, unless..." Yan Keqiu seemed to have thought of something, and he wanted to say something but stopped.

Seeing that everyone didn't believe in him, Xiaolang was a little frightened, fearing that he would be regarded as a lie-out bad boy, so he quickly spoke up and reminded him: "Have you heard of tax evasion by sir?"

"Distribute evasion?" Zhu Li's expression became more and more confused.

But as soon as these three words came out, many people in Zhu Li's line looked so loud that their faces turned pale immediately, giving people a feeling of lingering fear. Yan Keqiu also looked like this.

"Sir, know of this kind of tax?" Zhu Li frowned, looked at Yan Keqiu and asked suspiciously.

Yan Keqiu naturally knew that their father and daughter became black households because they could not withstand the drag of taxes. In the end, they had to beg along the street and barely survived.

Swallowed hard and vomited

Mo, Yan Keqiu said in a low voice: "General, this kind of taxation occurred in the early Tang Dynasty, but later it became more and more serious."

"The root of this is the consequence of the increasing annexation of land. The serious annexation of land has made the people's taxes more and more heavy. In the end, they can only end up in an inability to make a living. The place cannot survive, so the people have to leave their hometowns and turn into fleeing households."

"Yes, after the Zhenguan administration, the fugitives have never been eliminated, but the local governments do not care about these things at all. In order to ensure the quality and quantity, the government distributes the fugitives' responsibilities to the neighbors to bear. This kind of tax is called 'tax evasion'. The implementation of tax evasion has also forced more and more fugitives in the Tang Dynasty and the people are becoming more and more poor." Han Zhong took Yan Keqiu's words and continued to add.

When Zhu Li heard this, she was speechless for a long time. No wonder the villagers stayed in the town and lived so hard.

When the war was hit by a military disaster, the townspeople fled almost eight out of ten. Imagine that the people originally paid one stone of food for each household, which was enough to deduct taxes; but after 90% of the people fled, they needed to pay ten stones of food for the amount of taxes. The tax soared ten times, and it would be strange if they didn't starve to death.

Speaking of which, these villagers are so poor, and there is a reason why they are their own family, which makes him feel very guilty.

But the root cause is not the escaped villagers, but in the local government, but now it is not the time to consider these things. I am afraid that the remaining villagers in the town will not be in a good situation.

Zhu Li did not dare to neglect, so he immediately ordered Yang Zaixing and Jing Ming to lead nearly a hundred ghost warriors to buy food to the relatively prosperous towns nearby. At the same time, he asked Shen Ji and Xu Kan to explore the town and count how many villagers remained here, and personally took Yuchi Jin to comfort and visit.

Although these villagers almost didn't recognize him and he couldn't call out the other party's name, these people were all his fellow villagers after all, and he had to take care of them with bones and tendons.

After a busy day, the remaining fifty or sixty villagers in the town finally got full and had warm clothes, and they were also a little angry. Zhu Li felt relieved.

In the dilapidated and broken courtyard, Zhu Li looked at Yan Keqiu and said seriously: "Sir, all my villagers escaped at the beginning, but later they came back. It was obviously because they were unable to leave their hometown. I could not take them away. If I let them stay here, the final outcome would definitely be miserable. How should I save them?"

Yan Keqiu heard this and frowned slightly, bowed and said, "General, it is Shi Pu, the general who influenced the army's military governor. This person is cruel and deceitful. There are also corrupt officials such as Chen Fan to help the evil. If you want to change the lives of these people, you must kill Shi Pu, Chen Fan and others. Otherwise, even if the general can save them for a while, it will definitely not be a long-term solution."

Zhu Li's face was gloomy, but she had to admit that Yan Keqiu's words were very reasonable. Since the root cause came from the government, she had to change the people's parents' official position. This is the fundamental solution.
Chapter completed!